This week is beach hazard awareness week, a yearly event sponsored by the National Weather Service to reacquaint people with the inherent hazards of swimming in the ocean.

Oregon's beaches, let's face it, aren't the best places to swim for one big reason: It's cold out there. But that's a hazard, too: Hypothermia can quickly sap the strength of even the strongest swimmer.

The snow-covered peak is at the southwestern end of the Alaska Peninsula, rising to 8,262 feet. It has had 40 documented eruptions, and is known to scientists as one of the most active stratovolcanoes in the so-called Aleutian arc.

From the paper: The volcano sent an ash plume to 22,000 feet Monday, and it drifted east about 50 miles, prompting the Alaska Volcano Observatory to raise the aviation warning in the area to red, the highest level. By Tuesday, the cloud was below an altitude of 20,000 feet and the observatory had scheduled a meeting to consider downgrading the threat to orange, a volcano watch.